DG Kernel Forum

Hello
I have tried to load a simple .stl file and save it as a .step. The saved step is empty. Is it supposed to work at all?
Thankyou
Qin

Hi Qin

Not really. When a model is saved as a step only step – compliant objects are saved. The other objects are ignored.

The conversion is not possible in general case. Stl is the most basic format. It keeps mostly raw vertices and simplexes. The geometry can be anything including some very curved and tricky surfaces with unknown topology.

Step is the opposite. It is the top of parametric formats. Each surface or edge is defined exactly with an equation.

There are some tools which specialise in conversion like http://www.3dreshaper.com, but this most often I believe involves human interaction. So practically this is unsolved problem in general.

DGK does some format conversions internally. For an example, in the opposite direction conversion step to stl it works because DGK generates a mesh for step objects and saves it as an stl.

The same is true for vrml format at it is a mesh-based too. Mesh based formats do not have conversion to the other high level formats (autocad, iges, brep, acis) either.

Regards